Alliance League - Match 16

(Position before match - 5th)


Khazboss FC 5-3 Real Mabridge

An end to end game with plenty of tackles, goalmouth action and a little bit of controversy thrown in just for fun saw 5th placed Khazboss beat top of the table Mabridge with a confident display. From the off the tempo was high but unlike previous weeks, Khazboss seemed to want to win this one. A goal early on by Evans halted any thoughts of the teams canceling each other out with some good football and tough battles in the middle of the park. Charnock was on top form in goal making it almost impossible for Mabridge to score while up front, Evans was causing trouble every time he was on the ball, Heron & Ste Murphy were solid at the back with important blocks and tackles and both sides had major help from the post early on.
With Mabridge unable to score and Khazboss looking more likely to increase their lead they started to get frustrated with a few mistimed challenges. This firstly lead to a penalty for Khazboss with Scott Murphy cooly placing the ball in the corner before a harsh tackle lead to a Mabridge player being sinbinned for 5 mins. At first this seemed to inspire Mabridge but gradually the numbers advantage began to show and Khazboss managed two more goals from Evans & one from Gregory to give them a 5-0 lead by the time Mabridge got a player back.
An unlikely clean sheet looked very possible at this point, however, a simple mistake by Cheverton allowed Mabridge to score with a brilliant second coming soon after. Khazboss looked disorganised and all over the place and a third Mabridge goal was inevitable. With only 5 minutes remaining a possible clean sheet had turned into what looked like one of Khazboss' famous collapses. But Evans returned to the field to inspire the team and Khazboss nearly scored again with Ste Murphy and Evans hitting just wide and Cheverton with a cracker against the bar.
When the final whistle went though the better team had won.


Ratings
Charnock 8 (out of 10): Did all that was asked. Good saves, no fault for any of the goals
Ste Murphy 8 : A solid game defensively, weighed in with some great shots
Heron 7 : Fitness still an issue but played solidly when on the pitch
Scott Murphy 6 : Not his best game but still enough to cause trouble. Good defensively. Cool on the penalty
Evans 9 : An inspired performance. Wanted the win so much and worked hard for it
Gregory 7 : Played better than in the last few games. Good work on the ball, occasionally lax passing close to own goal
Cheverton 5 : Some wayward passing and looked out of position at first. Soon settled